At Princeton, Calhoun will collaborate with the Dean of the College and the Dean of the Graduate School while leading six units, including athletics, career services, religious life, the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, and university health services. She will head up a staff of more than 300 and responsibility for a budget of nearly $49 million to advocate for student needs while strengthening community and culture at Princeton. Click to continue »

And so we come to the end of yet another year, guys. Congratulations! You survived! Perhaps unscathed, perhaps not. But you survived. And not everyone can say the same. Is that tasteless? I don’t know. Death comes to us all in one way or another, so you should be used to it by now. Happy Holidays.

Maybe right now you’re wishing more than anything that you were back at Skidmore, preparing to ring in 2015 with a night off shitty-ness at the only place that’s ever felt like home. Maybe it feels strange getting drunk with a group of people who feel like strangers at this point in spite of how close you were to them only five years ago. But take comfort in knowing that you’re where you are today for a reason. Besides, if you were back st Skid right now, you’d know you’d just be one of many humanoids cramped in the Stable staircase, probably making out with your ex the second the clock struck twelve. And regardless of how much regret will instill itself into your 2015 existence, you don’t want to start things off that way. Trust your favorite step-uncle.

Anyway, we here at Skidmore Unofficial wanted to give you a taste of what to expect from us in 2015. Not so much goals for the site–ha, you think we have a plan here?–but more personal goals for ourselves, standards that we’ll hold ourselves to as we look toward a future of limitless possibility. It’s nearly 2015, after all. And if you’re anything like me, you were casually dropping homophobic slurs and listening to Three Days Grace only 8 years ago (not sure which one is worse, tbh), so progress is possible, friends.

Halloween (and more importantly but not really) Moorebid Ball is rapidly approaching and I bet a whole lot of your are freaking out about your lack of witty costume idea. I know the feelings: stressed with work, too cool to go out and buy something, but you still have those cute cat ears from last year, and the year before, so you’ll be the same cat you were last year, and the year before. Only a couple people will notice so it’s whatever, it’s takes minimal effort and you’ll look good. Right!? Well, sure, if you’re super lame, but we’ve got some alternatives for you. We know there’s pressure to come up with the coolest, funniest, and most eye-popping costume out of all our friends and everybody else at Moorebid, so we’ve put together a list of the five best Skidmore-related costumes you can make from just your closet… and maybe your friends closet too, and at worst a quick trip to Salvation Army, but nothing major.

Skidmore has canceled the men’s spring soccer season after reports of hazing, according to an email sent last night by President Glotzbach.

The incident in question—”Rookie Night”—allegedly took place on November 30 at an off-campus location. Glotzbach emphasized that “the students in question have not only endangered a number of their fellow students but also threatened the core values that bind and undergird our entire community.”

While no one was injured or hospitalized, the hazing comes at a point when colleges across the country have been cracking down on similar incidents. At Cornell, the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity was recently barred from campus after two pledges were hospitalized, while in December, almost two dozen brothers in the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter at Northern Illinois were charged with hazing crimes after the death of a pledge

Campus Safety investigated the initial allegations, providing information to the Saratoga Springs Police Department and District Attorney James Murphy. In total, 28 students and 24 current members of the soccer team are undergoing disciplinary proceedings.

Coming to us anonymously via email this morning: the compelling story of a President challenged and worldviews clashing.

Frustrated by the need for a more bike and pedestrian accessible and friendly campus, and no doubt encouraged by Leave Your Car At Home Week and yesterday’s Jeff Olson lecture, a group of students spent last night filling President Glotzbach’s reserved parking space behind the early childhood center with benches. In their email the group explains their collective frustration with the “hypocrisy inherent in a leader that preaches environmental sustainability but still won’t give up 45 seconds with his driving gloves and leather interior.”

You see, Glotzbach lives at 740 N. Broadway, a mere .2 miles from campus, yet apparently still drives to work everyday, which is actually pretty lame. Attached to the surreptitiously planted benches was the group’s challenge to Glotzbach, luckily this manifesto of sorts was reprinted in the email for us all to enjoy.

These benches are here to give you a chance to make a positive decision. As President you’ve spoken about the need for environmental sustainability, but we find it hypocritical that you drive to school when you live a half mile’s walk. We want you to help change this community in the only way possible – through positive decisions and leading by example.

We’re challenging you to leave these benches here and your car at home. We’re challenging you to walk or bike to school every day of the year. The majority of our students already do it everyday, so join them. It’s sustainable, it’s healthy and it’s a great way to start off the morning. We’ve put these benches here so that you can spend five minutes twice a day to relax and gather your thoughts before saying hello or saying goodbye. Take this as a positive message. Each and every one of our actions sends a message and can make a statement – here’s an opportunity to exercise that power and demonstrate what we know you believe. The only reason we hope to see these benches moved would be if they were to be replaced by a reserved parking spot for the President’s bike, or, better yet, a public, covered bike rack for your students and fellow faculty members. You are the leader of this campus and we want to follow you, so give us something worth following. We’re a college full of creative thought: it’s time for creative action.”

While I am a bit disappointed that it isn’t dramatically penned in bicycle grease and doesn’t really contain the endearing, crazy rambling I expect from anonymous letters issuing challenges of environmental sustainability the message is clear. What remains to be seen is how Glotzbach responds.

In a statement released by Dan Forbush and President Glotzbach yesterday the College explained its decision to lay off as many as 70 staff members in response to the economic battering we’ve received over the past year. The school needs to cut about $4 million from its $121 million budget because of a reduction in endowment, tuition and interest income.

Though contract buyouts and early retirements may lessen that number to 30 the cuts are expected to come in Feburary and mean that Skidmore will join the growing list of colleges and universities cutting staff to deal with a increasingly combative economic realities.

Dan Forbush, from the Communications Office, said layoffs would be conducted across college departments only after an analysis is completed to determine which functions could be eliminated or cut back. He added that tenured and tenure-track faculty would not be affected. In addition to a series of previously covered cost-saving measures and these lay-offs the College will also extend its computer replacement cycle.

Forbush said in a prepared statement

“We certainly want to focus on creating a revived foundation that again permits us to invest appropriately in our people programs and physical plant, which includes technology…We’re committed to the college’s fundamental mission, which is making the best possible educational opportunities available to our students.”

Phil and Marie would like to extend an invitation to all students to drop by the fireplace in the Murray-Aikins Atrium on Wednesday any time from 5:30 to 6:30pm for a nice little fireside chat. This is a great opportunity for club presidents to address the Glotz face to face and for students to get to know the man behind the curtain.